Stretching and spudding machine



Nov. 27, 1945. w. GREEN STRETCHING AND SPUDDING MACHINE Filed Jan. 13, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Nov. 27, 1945. w. GREEN STRETCHING AND SPUDDING MACHINE FiledJan. 13, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENT OR.

' Nov. '27, 1945. w. GREEN 2,389,620

STRETCHING AND- SPUDDING MACHINE Filed Jan. 15, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

. 4. BY Jm v 7 74? W42? J55 C .7 fig;

Patented Nov. 27, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STRETCHING- AND SPUDDING MACHINE William Green, Gloversvill e, N. Y. Application January 13, 1943, Serial Norm-2,235

(Cl. (SQ-'34) 15 Claims.

Thi invention relates to machines for working leather by stretching and spudding preparatory to utilizing it in the manufacture of gloves or for any other purpose.

It is of the greatest importance the manufacture of leather gloves that each skin should be preliminarily stretched longitudinally throughout its entire area from edge to edge in a complete and adequate manner. By this I means that all areas of the skinsshould be stretched substantially to their elasticlimit regardless of irregularities inshape or differences in size and texture of the treated skin. The stretching operation has been heretofore carried out by hand, and, besides requiring considerable skill and experience on the part of the operator, is. very fatiguing and tedious, so that-toward theend of the day the quality of the work almost invariably suffers. It is difii'cult also; to find o'perators having the physical strength, endurance and disposition to. engage in. this branch of the glove making industry.

Spudding is an. operation related tostretching and consists. in. distorting or' bending the matted fibres of the skin while under tension to force that re -arrangement of the fibres best adapted to allow; full: flow of the leather in any selected directiom. Heretofore spudding' has also been a hand. operationusually performed by grasping. a smalt area, of. the skinin one hand and dragging-its. edge: past and abou-ta dull blade. In: spudding, while the force applied is not. greatit is restricted in its application to suchasmall area of the skin that the tension per unit area issufiicient tov work the leather out to it's full ex tensionin the desired; direction, and consequently tobring about a resulting contraction along the dimension at right angles to the spudding actionz. Operators have almost invariably heretofore slighted spudding of: the edge portions of the skiir.

With. these considerations irr view it. is an object of. the present invention. to provide: a new and improved machine for stretching and spud-- ding skinsoi: leather by employing; which the op erator be relieved of the necessity to exert substantial physical strength. but may con-- trot. the stretching and. spudding. functions: of. the machine in the mostv delicate, accurate: and quickly-responsive: manner and so: improve both the economy of the'process andthequality-of. the Product.

'To this end an important feature of myinvention consists in. a machine having a transverse skin-holdingor retarding member in combination with a flight of power-driven slatsimovable conwhile both hands are free to manipulate the holddown and the skin which will now rest, as on a table, upon the traction slats moving in a, path substantially level with the bar and away from it and from the operator.

The traction. slats: are: arranged parallel to the skin-holding bar and are guided and supported for movement ina predetermined; path which may be substantially horizontal or upwardly and rearwardly inclined as herein shown. Many feattures of my invention consist in constructional details of the means for supporting, guiding and driving the traction slats with a View to securing free; continuous and uniform movement thereof without distortion or binding, and without danger of tearing the skin being treated. or injuring. the operator handling. it. These featureswill be dis cussed in detail hereinafter,

Another important feature of the invention consists ina flight of traction slats each having. an abrupt edge or vertex over which the skin may be flexed in developing tension therein and in carrying out the spud'ding treatment of the leather. As herein shown the most effective contour of slat: is secured by undercutting the advancing face of each slat, or rib thereon, so that the face makes a retreating angle to the path of the slats. Such angle is advantageous in that it tends to retain the hold-down blade in position instead of displacing it in the operation of the machine.

An essential element of the machine ofmy invention isa presser or hold-down member for creating friction traction between the skin and the traction slats movi'ngbeneath it. It is within thescope of my inventiori'to employ a-flat presser member effective merely to" press the skin upon the top surface of the traction slats, but. in general best resulte aresecured by employing. a hold-down m-ember'l'iaving' a longthin' blade with a blunt edge about which the skin may be abruptly flexed. and by which it may be pressed into contact with: the inclined face of any slat in the movingv flight;

The machine of my invention is also valuable in the tanning industry as a staking machine. The tanner is supposed to turn his leather over to the glove manufacturer thoroughly staked; that is, made pliable by manipulation over a dull blade edge. In that operation the tanned leather is abruptly contorted while under substantial tension and stiffness imparted to it in tanning is thereby worked out of the leather. The so-called leather characteristic of glove leather is large- 1y attained and accentuated by the staking treatment. Staking of glove leather, as distinguished from heavier shoe leather, has largely been carried out hitherto by so-called arm staking or knee staking, both of which are arduous and fatiguing operations. Further in the staking operation edge treatment of the skins becomes a difficult, slow and ineffective operation. The employment of my machine in the manner described relieves the operator of exhausting demands upon his strength. Further, instantaneous control of the force applied to the skin is available to the operator and in his earliest experience with the machine become reflex. The machine of my invention accordingly, operated with the assistance of properly designed hand tools achieves a complete and efiicient staking treatment of glove leather.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and. appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which .Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the complete machine as seen from the front, a skin of leather being shown thereon in dotted lines,

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, showing a portion of the frame broken away,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in rear elevation, the machine being represented as having two slats removed to expose the shaft and sprockets which would otherwise be concealed,

Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of one of the slats, Fig. 5 is a, fragmentary view in elevation of one sprocket and related parts,

Fig. 6 is an exploded view in perspective showing the construction of the interlocking connection between a slat and its guide, and

Fig. 7 is a view on an enlarged scale showing thefiexing of a skin between the hold-down and a slat. Y

The working parts of the machine are supported at convenient height by a rectangular frame including four uprights I connected by suitable cross braces. Between the upper ends of both pairs of front and rear uprights are rigidly connected'side beams ll disposed in parallel relation and inclined upwardly and rearwardly at an angle of about 15 to the horizontal. A pair of spaced cross bars I2 and I3 are bolted to and supported in edgewise position upon the side beams l I. A pair of spaced longitudinally disposed guide bars I4 and I are secured flatwise to the cross bars and these guide bars define between them the operative zone of the machine, which it will be seen is inclined upwardly and away from the operator who stands in front of the machine, or to the right of it as shown in Fig. 2. In the inner edge of each guide bar I4 and I5 is'provided a square slot or groove I6, as best shown in Fig. 6. The upper and lower faces of the groove I6 are lined with steel wear strips and the upper corner portion of each'bar is cut. away so that the steel wear strip on the 'lower' face of the groove I6 is uncovered and exposed in the guide bar.

Secured to the front ends of the side beams II and the guide bars I4 and I5 is secured. a stationary skin-holding or retarding board I 'I. This is transversely corrugated and inclined downwardly and rearwardly at an angle of about 30 to the vertical and is about waist-high. One end of the skin to be treated may be draped over or in front of this board and frictionally held in place thereon by pressure of the operators body. A guard in the shape of a transverse board I8 is secured flatwise between the forward ends of the guide bars I4 and I5 and above the upper edge of the skin-holdingboard I'!. All the parts thus far described are stationary elements of the machine. In operation tension in the skin is developed between the end thereof, which is frictionally held against the stationary board I l, and the body of the skin held against traction slats which move away from the board I? between the guide bars I4 and I5.

Bearings I9 and 20 (Fig. 3) are secured to the side beams II near their rear ends and in these bearings is journalled a transverse shaft 2!. The shaft 2| carries at one end a sprocket 22 about which extends a chain 23 running downwardly to a sprocket on a counter shaft 24 mounted in bearings on the two rear uprights 0f the frame and driven through belt connections with a motor 25 also supported in the machine frame. The driving connections pointed out are designed to make a substantial reduction in the speed of the driven shaft 2| as compared to the speed of the motor shaf-t.- v

Bearings 26 and 21 are secured to the side beams I I near the forward ends thereof and in these bearings is journaled a transverse shaft 28 carrying a pair of spaced sprockets 29. The shaft 2| carries a pair of spaced sprocket wheels 32 and 33 which are in longitudinal alignment with the sprockets 29 on the shaft 28. A pair of endless sprocket chains 30 and 3I run upon each pair of sprocket wheels and carry between them a flight of slats 34 in which are formed substantially upright pressure surfaces. The shape of the individual slats is best shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The slats are somewhat longer than the space between the sprocket chains .30 and 3|, and are secured to the chains by angle brackets 36 which are included as special side pieces in the sprocket chains; that is, in each chain the side pieces of certain spaced links are formed as angle irons 36 and these are screwed or otherwise secured to the flat face of one of the respective slats 34. Both ends of each slat are shouldered to form tongues 34 and these tongues fit and slide within the grooves of the guide bars I4 and I5 so'that the slats are positively supported and 'held against twisting in their movement re'arwardly fromthe holding bar I! in the upper reach of their path. The upper surface of each slat is grooved to provide a pair of upwardly projecting ribs 35 each having an upright pressure face, shown in Fig. 7

as having a forward inclination of about 15", and

' of this treatment is to impart a yielding forward draft. and tension to the skin which is held at its.

rear end yieldingly against the holding board [1. The amount of tension may be variably and very delicately controlled by the manipulations of the tool and also the location of the tensioncd area in the skin, that is to say, the tensionmay be exerted symmetrically across the whole skin or it may be exerted in first one side area and then the other. i

, The operation of the machine will be apparent from the foregoing description. The skin is placed loosely upon the table of the machine as suggested in Fig. 1. Under these conditions move ment of the slats beneath it is merely sufficient to smooth the skin .rearwardly from the transverse guard I8. The operator then leans forwardly pressing the end of the skin against the holding board [1 and places the tool 40 upon the skin so that the blade 42 engages it against a slat which has been brought upwardly about the sprocket wheels 29 and is just moving out frombeneath .the guard I8. The tool 40, of course, is carried rearwardly by its engagement with the moving slat and the skin is yieldingly stretched rearwardly by the friction developed between the blade 42 and the pressure face of the rib and the draftof the skin itself about the edge of the blade and the edge of the rib.

In addition to the stretching function secured by tensioning the leather in this manner the spudding operation is effected by the abrupt bending of the fibres over the edges which deflect the leather as it slips rearwardly past them.-' The operator retains the tool 40 in position upon the selected slat until it has moved a convenient distance rearwardly or until it has reached the rear edge of the skin. When this happens the tool is. lifted, brought forwardly, and placed in position to engage another slat and the operation is repeated until the skin has been thoroughly.

stretched and spudded. 7

It will be noted that on account of the close spacing of the ribs 35 the operator is not delayed at all in placing the tool, but that a moving slat is always available in whatever position he may desire to engage the skin. As the slats reach the rear end of the bed they pass downwardly about the sprocket wheels 32 and 33 and are returned in unsupported condition in the lower reach of their path to the sprocket wheels 29 at the forward end of the machine.

The manually operated tool may be of any desired width, generally rectangular in contour and providing a flat pressure face of substantial area. It will be noted that the blade 42 projects downwardly from the rear part of the pressure face thereby leaving the major portion of the effective face in advance of the blade 42. While this arrangement is not essential it is decidedly advantageous in that it tends to hold the blade in operative position with respect to the friction face of the moving slat and also supplies convenient and sensitive means for regulating the effective pressure upon the skin being treated.

The skin lies entirely free on the slats of the machine until it reaches the blade of the hand tool. The operator is thus entirely free to select the exact area in the skin on which he desires to operate and, of course, he may select a slat at any position in the flight for engagement with the blade 42 of the tool.

It will be noted that the bearings fo the transverse shafts 2i and 28 are mounted on the longitudinal top beams I I so that the whole topof the machine may be assembled as a complete unit and then bolted in place upon the legs of the frame.

Having thus disclosed my invention and de scribed in detail one embodiment thereof for the purpose of illustration but not limitation, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A leather stretching and spudding machine comprising a transverse skin-holding member, and. a continuous flight of transverse slats movable away from said holding member in a path supportinga skin in position to be engaged by a manually operated blade for bending the skin over the advancing edge of any selected slat in the flight.

2. A leather stretching and spudding machine comprising a stationary transverse skin-holding board, a pair of sprocket chains driven in parallel paths extending at right angles to said board,

and a series of slats connected at their ends to saidchains and movable in a path supporting a skin in position to be locally flexed by a manually operated blade shaped to be engaged with selected slats with portions of the skin interposed.

3. A leather stretching machine, having in combination, a machine frame, a skin-holding bar supported horizontally in the frame at substantially the height of a mans waist, a power driven shaft journaled in the frame at a substantial distance in the rear of said bar, guides located between said bar and shaft, and a flight of traction slats driven by said shaft for movement in the guides in a direction away from said bar, the individual slats being prevented from twisting by said guides.

4. A leather stretching machine, having in combination, a machine frame, a stationary skinholding member supported at the front of the frame, stationary guides extending rearwardly from said member, traction slats making interlocking sliding connections at their ends with said guides and being thereby prevented from twisting, and power operated means for moving said slats along said guides.

5. A leather stretching machine, having in combination, a machine frame, a stationary skinholding member supported by said frame, an endless flight of traction slats shaped at their ends for engagement with portions of the frame and guided thereby for movement in an endless path which is disposed in part adjacent to and at the rear of said skin-holding member, and power operated means for continuously moving the flight of slats in its path while the individual slats are prevented from twisting by their said engagement with the frame.

6. A leather working machine, having in combination, a frame, a stationary holding member at one end of the frame, an endless flight of traction slats movable upwardly behind said holding member and then laterally away from it, and stationary guideways for positively guiding the slats as they move laterally and preventing them from twisting as they are so moved.

7. A leather working machine, having in combination, a frame, a stationary holding member at one end of the frame, an endless flight of traction slats movable upwardly behind said holding member and then laterally away from it, each slat having flat tongues at both ends, and stationary guides grooved to receivesaid tongues while the slats move laterally;

8. A leather working machine, having in combination, a frame, spaced sprocket wheels aligned longitudinally in the frame, sprocket chains running over said wheels in parallel paths extending from front to rear in the machine, a holding member extending transversely in front of the foremost sprocket wheels, a flight of traction slats secured to said chains and movable in otherwise unsupported condition in the lower reach of the chains, and guides for positively holding the slats against tipping in their movement in the upper reach of said chains.

9. A leather working machine, having in combination, a frame, a continuous flight of traction slats each having an upright friction face and a curved following face, a stationary holding member adjacent to one end of the path of said slats, said slats being movable in a path supporting a skin in position to be engaged by a tool having a portion for engaging the following faces of said slats and a downwardly projecting blade for cooperation with the upright friction face of one of said slats in sinuously deflecting a skin supported on the slats.

10. A leather working machine having a holding device and a flight of slats movable relatively therefrom, each slat having an upright friction face, and all of the slats being movable in a path supporting a skin in position to be engaged by a cooperative leather flexing device having an extended flat surface for engaging the leather in substantially flat condition above the slats and a blade projecting downwardly adjacent to one edge of said fiat surface for deflecting the leather into contact with the upright face of any selected slat in the flight.

11. A machine for staking, stretching and spudding skins of glove leather, comprising a frame having an upwardly and rearwardly inclined top, a driven shaft journaled in the upper rear part of the frame and carrying a plurality of spaced sprocket wheels, an idle shaft journaled in the upper front part of the frame and carrying corresponding sprocket wheels, endless chains running rearwardly and upwardly over said sprocket wheels, a flight of closely spaced slats secured to said chains, stationary means for guiding the ends of the slats and holding them against twisting while in motion, and a holding member inleoted slat of the flight.

'12. A machine for treating skins of leather, comprising a frame, and a top unit detachably mounted thereon and comprising longitudinal guideways, spaced transverse shafts with sprocket wheels thereon, endless chains running on said wheels, transverse slats carried by the chains and sliding at their ends in said guideways, and a transverse holding member extending across the front 'end of the unit, the said guideways preventing twisting of the slats by their sliding engagement therewith.

13. A leather working machine comprising spaced parallel longitudinal guide bars defining the operative zone of the machine, endless chains driven in paths below the plane of said guide bars, an endless flight of transverse slats secured to said chains with substantially no space between the slats and being disposed with their upper faces in a plane approximatin that of said guide bars and thus providing with the bars a substantially continuous exposed leather-supporting face.

14. A machine for stretching glove leather, comprising a frame, longitudinal guides supporting an endless flight of closely spaced leatherflexing slats movable in a fully exposed path and providing a substantially continuous ribbed support for a skin of leather, and a stationary snubbing bar supported by the frame adjacent to the path of the slats, the said slats being movable in a path supporting a skin in position to be engaged by means for flexing any selected area of the skin in cooperation with the slat that happens to be moving beneath it.

15. A machine for stretching glove leather, comprising a frame, a horizontal snubbing bar supported thereby, spaced longitudinal guides delining a table-top zone between them and behind said bar, a flight of leather-flexing slats supported by the guides and movable as a substantially continuous ribbed support upon which the leather may be supported in position fully exposed to the inspection of the operator and to be engaged by a loose 'blade'whereby any area of the leather selected by the operator may be flexed in cooperation with the particular slat that happens to be moving beneath it.

WILLIAM GREEN. 

